MCHUNGAJI

 

MCHUNGAJI

She captured the red rooster,

A huge king bird,

Slit its throat

Eviscerated it and made stew,

A befitting meal for a man of ‘God’,

A meal for mchungaji,

Coming for ‘prayers’ that night.

 

Saturday afternoon,

She sent her teenage daughter

To clean mchungaji’s house,

Perhaps do his laundry too.

Mmchungaji, the man of God

Lives in a two-bed room house,

Erected in hallowed ground,

The church compound.

 

Her husband,

Arrives home Saturday afternoon,

‘Hungry’ after  a  fortnight in Nairobi.

She serves him githeri and manage,

Solid food for a mjengo man.

Then hurries off to church

For choir practice.

 

 Left home alone,

Burning in the flames of solitude,

Smouldering in the bottled-up desire,

He hurries off to the nearest bar,

Entering to amidst the drunken din,

Echoes of chairman, darling, governor…

He drinks himself silly,

Drowning the pain of loneliness.

 

‘Heavy with mmchungaji’s  prayers’

A few months down the line,

Head bowed,

She walks the village paths.

Her daughter, lumbers off to the well,

She walks unsteadily akin to a drunken crab.

Mchungaji the shepherd

‘Ate’ the ewe and its lamb.

 

©S.K. KYENZE

18/10/2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LET’S PRAY

 

LET’S PRAY

Dear God,

Please heed to my prayer,

Hurry to my rescue,

My mother’s love, my father,

Is a hyena that eats its own

Then claims they smell like goats.

 

Dear God,

The wolf my mother loves,

My behind, it spanked,

Startled, petrified, hurt, I started,

‘Daddy why?’

Menacingly, the wolf growled back

‘This skirt, this skirt is too tight,

Under my roof wear it never again!’

 

Dear God,

The pig that my mother feeds,

Shamelessly, my shy breasts touched,

I cringed and wept, hurt,

‘Papa why?’

It snorted,

‘My daughter, take care of yourself,

Let not boys and men touch there.’

 

 

 

Dear God,

The snake that my mother keeps,

In the dead of the night,

Into my bed slithered,

Pressed my lips shut and hissed

‘A single word, and you are dead.’

Then dug in its fangs

Injecting life-giving venom.

 

Dear God,

Heaven knows I told mama,

My daddy is a hyena that bites,

My papa is a wolf that growls,

My father is a pig that snorts,

My papa is a snake that hisses.

Irked, seething in fury,

She slapped me,

Heaven knows she smacked me,

‘Useless  girl, never tell such lies again.’

She commanded.

 

Dear God,

I’m but a puppy, hear my whimper.

Now in the family way, the bun in the oven,

My child, yet my sibling,

My father, its grandpa yet its father,

Dear God,

Why?

Why God?

Why dear god?

Why did it have to be this way?

Amen .

 

©S. K. KYENZE

15/10/2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE UNCERTAIN

 

LOVE UNCERTAIN  

Your eyes – emeralds,

The twin pearls floating on your face.

The sparkly black and white marbles

Steaming hot, straight off celestial kilns,

The radiance of your soul,

Warm with God’s life breath

Stirs my emotions,

My heart leaps in joy unfathomable, unbound

The heart lights up in expectation-

A kite, sailing in winds of what might be…

What a yearning.

 

The whiff of your perfume,

The shine in your kinky hair,

The fullness of your lips,

The rest of your breasts,

The curve of your waist,

The ring of your laughter,

A gale that sweeps me off my feet

A tide rising and ebbing in love's oceans.

 

Spread your arms,  embrace me.

Rest your head on my shoulder

As cupid his bow draws.

Let go,  close your eyes,

Hold our breath, arms in arms

drinking from love’s springs.

S.K. KYENZE  28/09/2021